Global Markets:
- Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 0.12%, Shanghai Composite down 0.05%, Hang Seng up 0.08%, ASX up 0.70%
- Commodities : Gold at $1341.65 (-0.46%), Silver at $15.96 (-1.32%), Brent Oil at $67.15 (+0.10%), WTI Oil at $57.36 (+0.35%)
- Rates : US 10-year yield at 2.661, UK 10-year yield at 1.178, Germany 10-year yield at 0.100
News & Data:
- (AUD) Employment Change 39.1K vs 15.2K expected
- (AUD) Unemployment Rate 5.00% vs 5.00% expected
- PBOC is likely to cut market-based interest rates, make further RRR cuts to spur credit – sources
- China may be on the cusp of introducing ‘more aggressive’ stimulus measures, economists say
Markets Update:
Asian stock markets are mixed on Thursday following the modest gains overnight on Wall Street in a choppy session as investors digested the minutes of the latest U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that indicated a patient approach to raising interest rates. Investors also awaited developments regarding the latest round of trade talks between the U.S. and China.
Mainland Chinese shares recovered from an earlier slip to see gains by the end of the morning session, with the Shanghai composite and Shenzhen component are both trading flat. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also seesawed to trade up by 0.1%.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.3 percent in afternoon trade while the Topix traded flat. The Kospi in South Korea was slightly higher, with shares of Samsung Electronics rising around 0.1 percent after the company unveiled its new series of Galaxy smartphones. The Australian market is rising in choppy trade as investors continued to digest mixed local corporate earnings results. Meanwhile, Australia’s unemployment data for January matched expectations.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar was in the spotlight after employment numbers for January topped expectations. The offshore Chinese yuan strengthened slightly to 6.7074 per dollar, touching its highest in about three weeks during the previous session.
In the commodity market, crude prices rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday to their highest in 2019 on hopes that oil markets will balance later this year. Oil prices were also helped by output cuts from top producers and U.S. sanctions on the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members Iran and Venezuela.
Upcoming Events:
- 09:15 AM GMT – (EUR) French Flash Manufacturing PMI
- 09:15 AM GMT – (EUR) French Flash Services PMI
- 09:30 AM GMT – (EUR) German Flash Services PMI
- 09:30 AM GMT – (EUR) German Flash Manufacturing PMI
- 10:00 AM GMT – (EUR) Flash Manufacturing PMI
- 10:00 AM GMT – (EUR) Flash Services PMI
- 10:30 AM GMT – (GBP) Public Sector Net Borrowing
- 01:30 PM GMT – (EUR) ECB Monetary Policy Meeting Accounts
- 02:30 PM GMT – (USD) Core Durable Goods Orders m/m
- 02:30 PM GMT – (USD) Durable Goods Orders m/m
- 02:30 PM GMT – (USD) Philly Fed Manufacturing Index
- 06:35 PM GMT – (CAD) BOC Gov Poloz Speaks
- 11:30 PM GMT – (AUD) RBA Gov Lowe Speaks
